If Only You Knew
by shesgonnablow
Summary: A one-shot about Zorn and Vegeta in their final days.


AN: This is the story of Zorn and his relationship with King Vegeta, particularly during the end of Frieza's reign. It chronicles his last few days at King Vegeta's behest.

* * *

There was a new King. His name was Vegeta. And it was found on that day that they all lived on the planet newly known as Vegeta, all serving under the mighty King Vegeta. Ultimately, though, this notion was not a true one; they did not serve under the Mighty King Vegeta. What could you call King Vegeta? A ruler? Perhaps a hero, to some? Or perhaps you might think of him as a puppet.

King Vegeta's crown sat atop his head. It was new, a vibrant golden, and was made of a material so fine that words could not begin to describe them. King Vegeta wore it as a symbol of pride, as he had obtained the adornment through years of fighting. His tactical brilliance, his brute strength, and his incredible finesse had earned him his crown. It was his and it was him.

King Vegeta had had a palace set up for him merely days before. Today, however, was his first time taking a step into the palace. It was a finely designed sanctuary, with wide hallways and high ceilings. There was a level of classicalism about the palace, with its many pillars and archways, that one would have felt that they were walking around in one of Beethoven's many compositions; Beethoven here being a Saiyan composer whose name was derived from beets.

But I digress. King Vegeta walked to his office, known colloquially as The Oblong Office, and felt a gust of wind hit him. As he repoened his eyes, he found that the wind was not wind but instead smoke; the room, in fact, was so covered in a fine white film that King Vegeta saw little outside of 7 pairs of eyes and projector. He felt a shove and came tumbling into the office, the door slamming shut behind him.

"Take a seat," a feminine voice rung out. King Vegeta pulled a chair out from under a desk and sat down. Every time that he inhaled, he felt a slight amount of what tasted like ash enter his mouth. He was too discombobulated by the whole occasion to attack, though, and sat there quietly, peering around at the eyes that surrounded him.

King Vegeta heard a small clicking sound begin to the left of him. It was the aforementioned projector, and it had begun to function. A small light shot out of the projector like a spotlight, and within moments a video had begun. There was a car rolling down the street, with four people inside the car. The man in the back left corner of the car was waving, admirers watching him from all angles.

King Vegeta instantly recognized the figure in the car; he had been one of Vegeta's idols growing up. His name was King Tarble, the last King before the Tuffle Revolution. King Vegeta remembered it all vividly; a lone Tuffle had shot him from a building 4 stories up. The video record of this had become one of the most widely watched videos on the planet, each gory detail remaining uncensored. The Saiyans reacted so negatively to this, in fact, that they had launched attack and ultimately killed all of the Tuffles. Planet Plant then became theirs.

However, this video was from a different angle than the one King Vegeta had seen before. The video was shot from in front of the former king. Vegeta could quickly tell that the video was in slow-motion, as well, as Tarble's entire body was moving slowly and the scenery around him seemed to move just as slowly.

It was then, though, that something appeared to the right of King Vegeta. It was an energy wave, an untraceable one, although a keen eye would note that it was a long-distance wave. The energy wave raced across the scene at a pace completely in contrast with the rest of the picture, eventually piercing through the side of Tarble's head and knocking his whole body to the left.

To Vegeta, this simply did not add up. He knew fully well that the bullet had hit Tarble from above and had come from the left; this video showed the bullet coming from the right and being level with Tarble's head. After a moment of contemplation, however, Vegeta had a moment of realization.

"Any questions?" a tougher, more raspy voice asked him.

"None."

The group let out a small chuckle. "You can get started out tomorrow. We've got a list of your policies laid out on your desk."

King Vegeta exited without a word.

* * *

Zorn had, for many years, been King Vegeta's primary advisor. Ever since the early days of the war, Vegeta had fallen back upon Zorn like a crutch; never once had Zorn steered King Vegeta wrong, and as such Zorn considered himself not only Vegeta's supervisor but also his friend. Vegeta had not once made a decision without consulting Zorn first. Thusly, Zorn was at a place of power in the Saiyan heirarchy.

However, something had been distressing Zorn for a few days. He had noticed, ever since Vegeta's coronation, that Vegeta had been paying Zorn less and less attention by the day. Now, five years into his kingship, Vegeta hardly looked at Zorn during their meetings. The meetings themselves seemed to be little more than a facade to calm Zorn. The king rarely made press appearances anymore and, for the most part, had been more quiet than usual.

On this day, Vegeta and Zorn were having a meeting. "Vegeta," Zorn began. He was one of the few people who was allowed to address the king by name. "I need to know the truth," Zorn finished. Zorn spoke with authority; very few people could get away with speaking to the king that way.

"You know the truth, Zorn. I wouldn't lie to you."

"There are rumors, you know. Crazy rumors."

"Like what? What type of rumors?"

"They're saying that Frieza wants your son. And they're saying that you might give him to it."

King Vegeta sat there for a moment, pondering Zorn's statement. "Don't talk about Frieza that way," he mumbled. The moment that Vegeta stated that, his ears must have awoken. He listened, for the first time in many ears, to what he was saying. Embarrassed at his own statement, he stood up, walking to the corner of the room. He would have been okay with not speaking to Zorn again, but Zorn would have none of that.

"Well?"

King Vegeta grimaced. "There are things you don't know, Zorn. Things I can't tell you."

The tension between King Vegeta and Zorn could have shattered tightropes. It could have snapped bridges in half. It could have pulverized towers, statues, anything. It was heavy tension.

"Tell me what happened to Tarble."

King Vegeta stared back. What did Zorn know? Why did he know? How did he know?

"We all know that the truth's not the truth. Every Saiyan who's seen the video before knows that there's something wrong with it. The old king's head doesn't go the right way."

King Vegeta did not respond. Shame rippled throughout him. He knew he was in the wrong, but he couldn't bare to admit it.

"Was there really a Tuffle?" Zorn's voice was quiet at first. He was inquisitive, probing. He stood up, walking closer to Vegeta with each step. "Was there really a Tuffle?" His voice grew in volume, his steps continuing until he reached nearer to Vegeta. "Was there really a tuffle!?" His voice had reached a scream, his body mere feet from Vegeta.

"There was no Tuffle!" King Vegeta yelled out in frustration. His voice made Zorn quiver, but King Vegeta had not finished yet. "He was from the Planet Trade Organization! A lone assassin! I don't know who!"

Zorn stood next to the king , his voice now maintaining a steady rhythm about it. "And you're afraid they're going to do the same thing to you."

King Vegeta had been outed as a coward. He had fought against numerous enemies, numerous races, and had faced death more times than he could count. But then, when faced by the PTO, he couldn't stand to face them, for he knew that he would lose. In all his other battles, he had at least stood a chance, but he stood no chance against the Planet Trade Organization. He was simply no match.

"I'm disappointed, Vegeta. I never would have taken you to be a coward."

King Vegeta could have sprung at Zorn that moment. He could have jumped on Zorn and punched him over and over again, until his nose was but a fine powder and his face resembled a broken sink. But Vegeta remained civil; he would simply cancel his appointments with Zorn and try to forget about him. That was the best option.

"Is Frieza going to take your son?"

"You're dismissed, Zorn."

Zorn exited without a word.

* * *

Zorn went home immediately following the encounter. He ate dinner, showered, and went to bed. He slept neither soundly nor with trouble. He awoke after 8 hours, slowly lifting himself out of bed. He found that he had received a message over the night. Slipping on his reading glasses, he read the message:

"Your services are no longer needed. Your meetings with King Vegeta are heretofore canceled."

Zorn did not feel betrayed. He did not feel heartbroken, angry, or even hopeless; Zorn felt disappointed. He knew that the note had not come from his friend, but instead someone else, someone above Vegeta. There was no doubt in his mind about this, in fact. He had been expecting the note ever since Vegeta had dismissed him, so it came as no shock. All it was to Zorn was a signal.

All of the king's former advisors had already gotten the note. They had all been replaced, done away with. Zorn knew it was only matter of time till his day was to come. What this signaled to him, though, was that no true Saiyan controlled their planet.

But what was he to do? Zorn was just a Saiyan himself; he was of above average strength, in fact being one of the strongest Saiyans alive, but he would do nothing when compared to the likes of the PTO. He could try to get his king to rebel, but the king was likely not to listen. When he thought about who his friend had become, Zorn almost felt disgusted. He thought back to their early days, his mind beginning to wander.

_"Are you sure you want to go through with this?"_

_It was one of their first meetings. They had both long since been in the military, but in separate divisions; Vegeta was a general in the Interstellar Missions Division and Zorn was a general in the Internal Affairs Division. The two divisions hadn't interacted much at all, at least not until Tarble had been killed. Ever since that day, the two had cooperated together in order to come up with the best plan of action. Zorn and Vegeta, especially, had been talking more and more._

_"They can't kill our king and get away with it," Vegeta responded. He was talking about the Tuffles._

_"But do we need a full war with them? They're nearly as strong as us and... the trials aren't over yet. We could have the wrong killer," Zorn asked. Zorn, who was young at the time, was not in favor of war as a first choice. He would rather wait it out for as long as he could; try to negotiate peace. He already had reservations about the killer, and didn't think that many other Tuffles were necessarily violent. They had coexisted for so many year... where was this coming from?_

_"It must be done! I don't have a choice, Zorn! Would you like to look our dead king in his eyes and tell him that we're not going to avenge him?" King Vegeta wasn't appealing to rationality, nor would he listen to it. After all, there was mounting evidence that the Tuffles had been planning a full-on assault against the Saiyans. There were, in fact, rumors that the Tuffles had discovered unforeseen levels of weaponry, which could wipe out the Saiyans easily._

_Perhaps war was the best option. Better to kill a few Tuffles than to endanger the Saiyan race._

_"Send the troops, then. A full moon should come out within the hour. The Tuffles should be dead within hours." Zorn was ready to go along with the plans that King Vegeta had hatched up, and even to fight himself, if necessary._

_And so the Saiyan troops were launched. They were far stronger than the Tuffles, but were not capable of wiping out many of them regardless. The Tuffles hid well and they were numerous, making it difficult for large numbers of them to be wiped out at once. Fear was constant; the Saiyans regularly found what they thought might be revolutionary weaponry, but never did it actually happen._

_The war lasted ten years. It took ten years to kill all the Tuffles; destroy all their technology, all their buildings, all their people. King Vegeta and Zorn fought together regularly; by the end of it all, Zorn held just as much tactical authority as King Vegeta himself. They won the planet for themselves, with a little help from the Planet Trade Organization (who supported their efforts), and Vegeta soon took over as the new King. Vegeta was different from many of their former kings; he held stronger ties with Frieza's empire and placed more importance on conquering other planets. In fact, much of the time, the Planet was nearly empty, with most of the civilians on other planets._

_Vegeta and Zorn continued meeting regularly. Zorn remembered some of their earlier meetings, where King Vegeta listened to his ideas, often acting on his ideas later. He thought back to some of their later meetings, also, in which King Vegeta didn't seem so proud anymore. He seemed away from it all, as if he was in a different world altogether._

Zorn snapped out of his little flashback. He realized, quite quickly, that Vegeta was no leader, not like he had been. He was a liar, a puppet, a figurehead. He was nobody. He was a bum, a tramp, a hobo, a boxcar and a jug of wine. He used to be a straight razor, but no more. Zorn checked his watch; it was 6:30 in human time, and some other ungodly number in saiyan time. Vegeta would still be at his private house at the time, meaning that Zorn should be able to see him without any wait.

Zorn exited his house and began flying toward Vegeta. He didn't care that Vegeta didn't want to see him again; they were going to have a talk. On the flight, however, Zorn came to a few new conclusions. The PTO had framed a Tuffle in the assassination of Tarble to force the Saiyans to attack. The Saiyans were simply playing in their game. He also realized that the emphasis on conquering other planets was a PTO agenda; they wanted to sell off as many planets as they could, under the false impression that the Saiyans were doing it for themselves.

After several minutes, Zorn reached Vegeta's house. He knocked upon Vegeta's house – no reply. He yelled from the outside to Vegeta – no reply. He flew through all the windows in the house, looking for Vegeta – no luck. He was just about ready to give up, when he realized that Vegeta was perhaps sleeping in the most private room of the house, the one without a window. Zorn let himself into the house by means of breaking through a window, and made his way to the room.

Before long, Zorn had located Vegeta's room. He entered Vegeta's private area and saw Vegeta laying in bed. He yelled to him, "Vegeta!"

The king shot up, out of his bed. He saw Zorn and became alarmed. "We no longer need you!" he yelled out, with a peculiar mix of grogginess and fury in his voice.

"When did you stop caring?" Zorn rattled off at King Vegeta. Zorn was furious, angry, ready to burst. "When did you start worrying about nobody but yourself?"

"You don't know anything! Frieza won't kill us as long as we obey him!" Vegeta had woken up quickly, his temper rising rapidly.

"He's already killed you! You're dead, as far as I'm concerned," Zorn angrily began. "What would Tarble think if he saw you? If your own son knew who you really were? What would your wife think?"

Vegeta's wife was dead. She had lived just long enough to make two sons, one of whom was a secret to most of the Saiyan populace. Regardless, Vegeta would not stand for Zorn to insult him by using her. Vegeta himself didn't feel shame for himself, he simply felt anger. He flung himself at Zorn, grabbing Zorn around the ankles and pushing him to the floor. He took Zorn down to the ground, pinning him down and squeezing his neck. He pummeled Zorn's face a few times, causing bruises.

Zorn pushed King Vegeta off his chest. He tackled Vegeta, springing at him from the ground, and landed on top of him. He hit Vegeta in the face a few times, causing little damage to anything but Vegeta's pride. The two tumbled about for a few minutes, shattering glass and landing heavy blows on each other. The fight ended with King Vegeta slamming Zorn's head against a wall, causing them both to slouch down to the ground.

Zorn himself was barely conscious. King Vegeta was only tired. They both sat on the ground, looking into each others eyes.

"You know," Zorn coughed out, "that's the first time we've ever fought against each other."

King Vegeta didn't respond to this. They both sat in silence for a few minutes, blood dripping from Zorn's head. "I don't want to do what Frieza tells me to." King Vegeta had never felt more weak than when he said that. He, for the first time, was almost unable to believe what he had become.

"I know, Vegeta. I know." It was a soft moment, two men quietly coming to terms with their own faults.

"You were right, you know."

"Hmm?"

"They want my son. They really do. I never thought Frieza would ask for him, but he did. I don't know how much longer I'll have him for."

"We can't let that happen. You know that."

"That's not all." He took a brief moment of silence. "Frieza told me to bring all the troops back home. I don't know why."

"Are you going to bring them back?" Zorn asked.

"I already did. Right after you left. Every single troop we have is on their way back home."

Both men hung their heads in sad disposition. They knew what this meant; Frieza was going to take them all out.

"You shouldn't have done that, Vegeta."

"I didn't know what else I could have done." It was a dangerously intimate moment for both of them. King Vegeta hadn't been so honest with anyone in many years.

"We can fight back, you know. Frieza wouldn't be able to kill all of us."

Vegeta's eyes lit up with inspiration. "Are you sure you would want to go through with that?"

"He can't kill our race and get away with it."

Vegeta felt courage rush through him. Adrenaline flooded his veins. He was, at last, ready to attack. He was going to kill Frieza, disenfranchise the PTO, liberate the Saiyans. He was going to do it all.

"Gather our strongest men, Zorn! We're going to fight them!"

* * *

Twelve hours had passed. Zorn had gathered 25 of their strongest men together to form a team known as "King Vegeta's Elite".

King Vegeta, alternately, had turned the Prince over to Frieza.

He had done so following a meeting with none other than Zorn, wherein Zorn had plead for the King not to give the prince away. He had no luck. Vegeta was around others and he was scared. As he later told Zorn, he figured that he would retrieve Vegeta after they defeated Frieza. If they lost, he had reasoned, at least the Prince would be allowed to live.

Describing the rebellion itself would be pointless here. It went even worse than they could have suspected; Frieza defeated them all within minutes.

Zorn, however, did not take part in the rebellion. King Vegeta insisted that he stayed behind to guide the rest of the Saiyans if King Vegeta was killed - Zorn accepted reluctantly.

Most of the Saiyan race, with but a few exceptions, was on the planet. A young, teenaged, low class warrior was out of touch, and the prince and Nappa were with Frieza. Although Zorn did not know this, Vegeta's second child was also away from the planet.

Zorn held out hope until the very last minute that King Vegeta had succeeded. Had Zorn been smarter, he would have directed all of the Saiyans off of the planet the second that King Vegeta went offline, but he held out hope that his friend was alive until the bitter end, when a huge ball of energy came hurtling toward Planet Vegeta and Zorn struggled to find the nearest intercom. It was too late, Zorn knew, to do anything. He simply had to sit back and let the world burn.

As Zorn's flesh was engulfed into a fiery mass of molten lava, he saw one small pod leave, out of the corner of his eyes. It may have very well been a hallucination, but Zorn liked to think that the space pod held a Saiyan in it that would go out and avenge the death of his old king and him.

If only he knew.


End file.
